$999 will get you a hexacopter drone designed for aerial photography

For those of you who are aspiring aerial photographers, there is a new Kickstarter project looking to help you get the equipment you need to send your camera rig soaring into the air. Called the “eye3”, the project hopes to create an affordable hexacopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be used without any special training. UAV enthusiast Kellie Sigler and her husband are looking to cut out the middleman between the photographer and their equipment by creating a UAV package that uses open source software combined with Google Maps.

The first goal for the eye3 project the Siglers focused on was the need to make the vehicle lightweight, but powerful enough to be able to support a payload consisting of a professional-level DSLR camera and lens, which can get in the range of 5 to 10 pounds. To meet this requirement, the couple designed the six arm structure of the eye3 out of carbon and glass fibers, both of which offer strength without having to add weight to the frame. For the lifting power, each arm was outfitted with a 350W motor capable of up to four pounds of vertical thrust. With a combined capability of 24 pounds of thrust, the hexacopter has more than enough muscle left over after taking into consideration its own four pound weight.

Along with the vertical lifting power, having six motors gives you some redundancy. The Siglers claim that two of the rotors could fail and the eye3 could still remain in the air, allowing to land the UAV safely and make repairs. Because the kit is modular in nature, replacing parts is less expensive and it is possible to replace just what is fault as opposed to the whole assembly.

The eye3 also makes use of some excellent open source software called APM Planner that is built on the APM2 platform. APM Planner is an autopilot software that allows you to use Google Maps to plot out the path of the UAV, allowing you to dictate the speed and waypoint’s around an area. The software takes care of the takeoff, flight path, and landing, allowing you to focus on the photo’s you are trying to get. This along with the auto-stabilization features that have been built in make UAV flight incredibly simple.

The eye3 is powered by three CPUs, with a board that has additional I/O ports to add your own customizations. One of these will be needed for a live feed of what the camera is seeing, so you can make sure you are framing your shots correctly.

Having some experience with UAV photography, I can tell you that if you can afford to back this project and need to get a UAV kit, go run for your credit card or check book. At $999 for a basic kit and $2,500 for an full kit (including the transmitter and receiver) that will allow you to put your camera in the air, the eye3 is much cheaper than what we were flying five years ago. We estimated between the camera support, remote camera control, ground station, and specialized parts we had about $5,000 in the rig we were working with. My team would have killed for an eye3 back then.

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Wow, this is awesome, and even though I have no particular interest in photography, I would like to have one just for fun (but not for 999$ :x).Maybe I could use it to track my cat and feed it without having to leave my computer…

However, there is no indication of the autonomy of the machine, do you know what it is?

http://www.facebook.com/itsDavidAbraham David Abraham

love this

http://twitter.com/Yoostin Justin Lewis

Check this out first, I’m sure some enterprising types will be happy to build & commission a platform for you right now, with a proven bit of kit

I’m an expert RC Heli pilot and very knowledgeable about the field. A standard beginner size heli with everything needed to fly runs around $1000, minimally. Anyone who says this is expensive is crazy, with carbon-fiber parts, its lifting power, and capabilities, it’s a STEAL at $999.

Edward Laauwen

The video is so badly made I would hesitate flying my camera with any of this company’s products.

Paul van den Bergen

you guys need to approach gopro – it would be a totally awesome combo…

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